This project involves experimental and observational studies of early childhood influences on the development of instrumental initiative. Specific studies continuing into and starting within the next grant year are as follows: An ongoing study of 60 infants, observed at 2 and 5 months of age, is collecting data on type and contingency of stimulation experienced by infants in their homes. Another ongoing study involves prospective and retrospective analysis of existing longitudinal records with focus on uncovering potential antecedents and consequences of mid-childhood initiative. Two new studies will begin the coming year. One will be a two-year follow up of subjects who received an assessment of instrumental initiative in a laboratory setting when they were fourteen weeks old. They will be tested for individual differences in perseverance and initiative in standardized barrier tasks. The other study will be an experimental analysis of the perception of control under varying conditions of instrumental clarity in a laboratory setting. The study will attempt to clarify results of earlier experiments which imply that a sex difference in instrumental initiative emerges when infants are in a context of reduced instrumental clarity. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Watson, J.S. Early learning and intelligence. In M. Lewis (Ed.) Origins of Intelligence, New York: Plenum Press, 1976, pp. 199-222.